The GENIUS Act's July 18 rulemaking deadline passed without a final package. Six agencies now write rules with a Jan. 18, 2027 effective date approaching.
The July 18, 2026 statutory deadline for final GENIUS Act rules passed without a coordinated package from the six federal agencies involved. The law set that rulemaking deadline and the Jan. 18, 2027 effective date six months apart; the first date has slipped, the second has not. Issuers now face a compressed runway to the effective date, and DailyCoin reported that the missed deadline does not postpone it.
Signed by President Donald Trump on July 18, 2025, the GENIUS Act defined payment stablecoins as payment instruments rather than securities or commodities. Issuers must hold full reserves in liquid assets and submit to annual audits. The law also gives stablecoin holders priority claims in an issuer's insolvency, a protection the U.S. market lacked before.
Critics of the law had argued that compliance costs and access restrictions would slow innovation, DailyCoin reported. DailyCoin's reporting found the opposite. Clear rules made it easier for large institutions to enter the market and focus on integrating stablecoins into existing bank infrastructure. Regional banks that had kept blockchain projects on the sidelines are now investing in blockchain connectivity and real-time settlement infrastructure, plus digital-asset custody. DailyCoin cited measurable progress over the past year in institutional participation and cross-border payments.
Tokenized U.S. Treasuries crossed $13 billion in market value, and total tokenized real-world assets reached about $25 billion. Tokenization, wrapping a bond or an equity in a token that trades on blockchain rails, is the area where the stablecoin settlement layer matters most, DailyCoin argues. DailyCoin credits the clearer rules for pulling capital into tokenized assets. A group of more than 140 firms has signalled support for Open USD, a new dollar-pegged stablecoin; Visa and Mastercard are among the names, alongside asset managers such as BlackRock. Crypto industry experts, DailyCoin reported, read the move as a sign that traditional finance sees blockchain as a major channel for moving money between institutions.
Money-center banks are moving toward issuance. JPMorgan and Bank of America are part of that push, and DailyCoin reported that several formal applications are expected to land later in 2026. AlphaScala's stock scores put Bank of America at 68 of 100 and JPMorgan Chase at 66, both Moderate.
The rulemaking work that remains is concentrated on two proposals. A joint customer identification rule and an FDIC anti-money-laundering plan remain open for comment into August. None of the six agencies has published its final piece of the package. The law's Jan. 18 effective date has not moved. After that date, issuers must meet the reserve and audit requirements to keep offering payment stablecoins in the U.S. market.
Europe's MiCA rules reach full implementation this year, giving stablecoin issuers on the continent a comparable rulebook. Hong Kong and Singapore have introduced their own licensing systems, and the UK is close to publishing its stablecoin rules. Canada's Bill C-15 received Royal Assent on March 26, 2026, making the Bank of Canada the primary supervisor for fiat-backed stablecoin issuers. The act requires full reserves and clear redemption terms; detailed rules are under consultation through 2026 and 2027, and the full set is expected to be in force by 2027.
The regulatory progress has not stopped at stablecoins. In March 2026, the SEC and CFTC jointly classified 16 crypto assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and the Ripple token XRP, as digital commodities under CFTC jurisdiction, answering a decade-old question about which agency polices which token. DailyCoin said the decision removed one of the biggest sources of uncertainty for institutional participants.
Total stablecoin market capitalization crossed $300 billion early in 2026 and sat near $316 billion in June, up from $308 billion at the end of 2025. Annual transaction volume reached $33 trillion in 2025, up 72% year over year, a scale DailyCoin compares with major card networks. Tether holds roughly 59% of stablecoin supply and 74% of on-chain trading volume. USDC leads on annual transaction volume, $18.3 trillion to Tether's $13.3 trillion. Most of the supply sits with traders who need a stable place to hold cash between crypto trades, DailyCoin noted.
Yield-bearing stablecoins were the fastest-growing slice of the market in the first quarter of 2026, up more than 22% and adding about $4.3 billion in market cap. DailyCoin singled out USDY and sUSDS as the category's leaders and tied the growth to institutional interest in on-chain instruments that pay a return without the volatility of unbacked crypto assets.
Traders also use stablecoins as a parking spot between crypto positions. Selling $100 of bitcoin on an exchange returns $100 of stablecoins immediately, without waiting for a wire transfer to clear, DailyCoin noted. The dollar peg exists because unbacked crypto prices move hard; Bitcoin climbed above $96,000 in January before falling roughly 33% in early August. A token that holds its value lets a trader sit in cash without leaving the crypto market.
DailyCoin cited projections that the stablecoin market will expand to $1.45 trillion by 2035 once financial institutions move coins from trading balances into payments and interbank settlement.
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